The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

OMG THIS is how I can finally explain why my marketing SUCKS

Marketing, social media, advertising

businprogress

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
38%
Jan 21, 2016
16
6
35
I've been on the forums a little bit, trying to ask questions on how to more deeply understand how to get what I know works in teaching lessons (I'm a voice teacher who started with no ability in singing, most teachers started with talent, so I have a huge edge on almost everyone) to a wider audience and to figure how to make it as useful for the person stumbling on my website as it is for someone taking one-on-one lessons with me.

I've done many things to try to make this work: some ebooks, courses, group lessons, etc. My last experiment was a course...no one bought it, I've got one beta tester though...ANYWAY...what I learned in that process was that I can listen deeply to someone when I'm teaching them, but it's hard to do that through a website, a survey, etc and therefore it's hard to market really, REALLY well. So even though I know what I have to teach is very valuable, I haven't figured out how to have others see it that way online.

Well finally tonight I was reading "Never Split The Difference" and he finally described why my marketing sucks compared to my teaching, and why I felt really unsatisfied with most of the info out there when it comes to marketing/product validation/proving people will buy a course before I spend so much effort making it.

from "Never Split the Difference":

"What you don't know can kill you, or your deal. But to find it out is incredibly difficult. The most basic challenge is that people don't know THE QUESTIONS TO ASK THE CUSTOMER [OMG I did survey and realized I have no idea what questions to ask, had to guess], the user...the counterpart. Unless correctly interrogated, most people aren't able to articulate the information you want. The world didn't tell Steve Jobs that it wanted an iPad: he uncovered our need, that Black Swan, without us knowing the information was there."

I feel relief now. I feel like everyone is saying how "easy" it is to ask your customer. It's not. I'm asking anyway and guessing, but it's actually really F'ing hard.

So the question I'm asking is: HOW DO I ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO GET THE MOST BENEFIT FROM THE ANSWERS I GET FROM MY AUDIENCE/CUSTOMER/ETC?


Okay...back to reading tonight, work first thing tomorrow.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Bekit

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
493%
Aug 13, 2018
1,135
5,601
I've been on the forums a little bit, trying to ask questions on how to more deeply understand how to get what I know works in teaching lessons (I'm a voice teacher who started with no ability in singing, most teachers started with talent, so I have a huge edge on almost everyone) to a wider audience and to figure how to make it as useful for the person stumbling on my website as it is for someone taking one-on-one lessons with me.

I've done many things to try to make this work: some ebooks, courses, group lessons, etc. My last experiment was a course...no one bought it, I've got one beta tester though...ANYWAY...what I learned in that process was that I can listen deeply to someone when I'm teaching them, but it's hard to do that through a website, a survey, etc and therefore it's hard to market really, REALLY well. So even though I know what I have to teach is very valuable, I haven't figured out how to have others see it that way online.

Well finally tonight I was reading "Never Split The Difference" and he finally described why my marketing sucks compared to my teaching, and why I felt really unsatisfied with most of the info out there when it comes to marketing/product validation/proving people will buy a course before I spend so much effort making it.

from "Never Split the Difference":

"What you don't know can kill you, or your deal. But to find it out is incredibly difficult. The most basic challenge is that people don't know THE QUESTIONS TO ASK THE CUSTOMER [OMG I did survey and realized I have no idea what questions to ask, had to guess], the user...the counterpart. Unless correctly interrogated, most people aren't able to articulate the information you want. The world didn't tell Steve Jobs that it wanted an iPad: he uncovered our need, that Black Swan, without us knowing the information was there."

I feel relief now. I feel like everyone is saying how "easy" it is to ask your customer. It's not. I'm asking anyway and guessing, but it's actually really F'ing hard.

So the question I'm asking is: HOW DO I ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO GET THE MOST BENEFIT FROM THE ANSWERS I GET FROM MY AUDIENCE/CUSTOMER/ETC?


Okay...back to reading tonight, work first thing tomorrow.
That's a great question. Glad you had a breakthrough. Chris Voss is amazing.

In order to hopefully help you, I have some questions of my own...
  • Who is the target customer? Is it someone who wants to teach voice even though they're starting with no ability in singing? or is it a voice student?
  • Where are these people likely to be found?
  • What problems do they typically encounter on their journey to their goal?
  • What is the main outcome or transformation that your course offers or promises to deliver?
Without knowing any of these answers, my main suggestion would be to find some of your target students in person and just have an open-ended conversation with them. Just keep digging, asking open-ended questions. Look particularly for their pain points, where they are stuck, and what obstacles they perceive between where they are now and where they want to be.

The more of these interviews you can conduct, the more you'll be able to match your product offerings to the exact needs and pains that your students KNOW and FEEL that they have.

The questions that will benefit you the most are the ones where you uncover EMOTION, especially fears and pains.
 

BizyDad

Keep going. Keep growing.
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
416%
Oct 7, 2019
2,885
11,989
Phoenix AZ
What is the main outcome or transformation that your course offers or promises to deliver?

I'll add what does your service cost, and how long does someone need to be working with you to see results (by results, I mean the outcome @Bekit asked about)?
 

Roli

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
160%
Jun 3, 2015
2,061
3,301
I'm a voice teacher who started with no ability in singing, most teachers started with talent, so I have a huge edge on almost everyone

I'm intrigued, how does having no experience give you an edge on people that do?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

DucNH

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
200%
Jan 12, 2020
1
2
I've been on the forums a little bit, trying to ask questions on how to more deeply understand how to get what I know works in teaching lessons (I'm a voice teacher who started with no ability in singing, most teachers started with talent, so I have a huge edge on almost everyone) to a wider audience and to figure how to make it as useful for the person stumbling on my website as it is for someone taking one-on-one lessons with me.

I've done many things to try to make this work: some ebooks, courses, group lessons, etc. My last experiment was a course...no one bought it, I've got one beta tester though...ANYWAY...what I learned in that process was that I can listen deeply to someone when I'm teaching them, but it's hard to do that through a website, a survey, etc and therefore it's hard to market really, REALLY well. So even though I know what I have to teach is very valuable, I haven't figured out how to have others see it that way online.

Well finally tonight I was reading "Never Split The Difference" and he finally described why my marketing sucks compared to my teaching, and why I felt really unsatisfied with most of the info out there when it comes to marketing/product validation/proving people will buy a course before I spend so much effort making it.

from "Never Split the Difference":

"What you don't know can kill you, or your deal. But to find it out is incredibly difficult. The most basic challenge is that people don't know THE QUESTIONS TO ASK THE CUSTOMER [OMG I did survey and realized I have no idea what questions to ask, had to guess], the user...the counterpart. Unless correctly interrogated, most people aren't able to articulate the information you want. The world didn't tell Steve Jobs that it wanted an iPad: he uncovered our need, that Black Swan, without us knowing the information was there."

I feel relief now. I feel like everyone is saying how "easy" it is to ask your customer. It's not. I'm asking anyway and guessing, but it's actually really F'ing hard.

So the question I'm asking is: HOW DO I ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO GET THE MOST BENEFIT FROM THE ANSWERS I GET FROM MY AUDIENCE/CUSTOMER/ETC?


Okay...back to reading tonight, work first thing tomorrow.
I recommed the book "The Mom Test", it relates so hard how suck I ask questions I felt embarassed reading it.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
Personally, I get people onto calls as often as I can. I’ve been doing it for years. Help people for free. You’ll be amazed what you learn.
 

RazorCut

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
358%
May 3, 2014
2,032
7,269
Marbella, Spain
Realise that there are no dumb questions and you should be asking everyone that shows even a modicum of interest as many open ended questions as possible. Ambiguous questions that can't be answered with a yes or no can be very enlightening as they can take you off at tangents you would never have considered on your own.

My current project is slowly coming out of mothballs but I have been asking people questions for month and months while it has been in hibernation.

The one thing I try to remember is that I am too close to the subject matter to be objective. I have many blind spots because I see things from a different perspective than someone who needs my services but either doesn't know it yet or has discounted it in the past.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top